LIPIS: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak arrived here today at Lipis, Pahang on the second day of his visit at the flood relief centres.
Najib, who was accompanied by Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob, arrived at the Lipis Army Base Camp via a Royal Malaysian Air Force helicopter at 10.45am and was immediately driven to the first relief centre where the evacuees were seeking refuge.
The prime minister visited the first shelter which was at SK Clifford, Lipis, Pahang and the 315 evacuees were happy to see the leader.
Concerned about their wellbeing and welfare due to the crisis, Najib spent about an hour with them and their moods lightened up significantly.
Najib asked the evacuees to be patient as both the federal and state government are doing their best to assist them.
"I understand that some have lost a lot of their personal belongings due to this flood, and the government cannot replace everything.
"However, we will try our best to provide and assist where we can. I am also sad to see what has happened," Najib said before making a move to visit the next shelter at SM Padang Tengku.
Najib is also expected to visit relief centres in Jerantut and Temerloh, including the Batu Embun water treatment plant where he would be given a briefing by the operators.
However, the number of flood evacuees in the state has dropped slightly from 33,973 to 32,857 at 261 relief centres as of 10pm yesterday.
Najib, who arrived home yesterday from Hawaii, had visited Kelantan, which was the worst hit state in the floods crisis that involved Terengganu, Pahang, Perak and Perlis.
He also announced three major post-flood relief measures to lighten the burden of victims in all affected states and among the measures were an additional allocation of RM500 million to help victims rebuild their lives.
More than 130,000 people have been evacuated from their homes due to the crisis with the heaviest toll in Kelantan where the number of evacuees has almost doubled to 81,925 since Friday.